{"id":130,"date":"2015-04-16T21:39:22","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T21:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/?p=130"},"modified":"2015-04-16T21:39:22","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T21:39:22","slug":"cains-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/2015\/04\/16\/cains-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cain’s Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cain\u2019s Creation\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam and Eve conceived Cain (he who is created),<\/p>\n

And later his brother Abel.<\/p>\n

And Abel became a shepherd, and Cain a farmer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When he became a man Cain offered<\/p>\n

The first fruits of his harvest to God,<\/p>\n

And Abel brought the fattest young from his flock.<\/p>\n

And God accepted Abel\u2019s offering<\/p>\n

But not Cain and his offering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This troubled Cain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cain said to Abel let’s go for a walk<\/p>\n

And when they were alone,<\/p>\n

Cain killed his brother Abel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then God said to Cain listen<\/p>\n

Your brother’s blood is crying out<\/p>\n

To me from the earth.<\/p>\n

Now you are cursed.<\/p>\n

When you till the earth, it will not yield harvest<\/p>\n

You shall become a wanderer and a vagabond.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Cain said my punishment is too much to bear.<\/p>\n

You have banished me, and<\/p>\n

I must become a restless wanderer<\/p>\n

But anyone who meets me can kill me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And God said if anyone harms you,<\/p>\n

You will be avenged seven times over.<\/p>\n

And God marked Cain\u2019s head,<\/p>\n

So that anyone who met him would know<\/p>\n

And Cain went away and settled in<\/p>\n

The land of Nod (restlessness), east of Eden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joesph Flexer, born in Brooklyn,<\/p>\n

Dropped out of Yeshiva and became a socialist.<\/p>\n

1951, age 18, Zionist pioneer in the<\/p>\n

Negev Kibbutz Urim (lights).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Be\u2019er Sheva Region military commander<\/p>\n

Patrol with Jeep and Uzi;<\/p>\n

His task: ambush Palestinian infiltrators.<\/p>\n

Shoot to kill. On sight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Isaac Flexer, born in Winnipeg<\/p>\n

1974, age 18; soldier AWOL<\/p>\n

Evening hitchhiking to Zophar military base,<\/p>\n

(Transitioning to an agricultural settlement;<\/p>\n

A border stronghold, \u201cfacts on the ground\u201d).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In uniform (but unarmed), standing alone at<\/p>\n

Crossroads near Sodom.<\/p>\n

No vehicles pass. Nothing stirs. Not a sound is heard.<\/p>\n

Nowhere a bird or a lizard or a snake.<\/p>\n

Embraced by silent void and emptiness<\/p>\n

(Must be what it\u2019s like to be on the moon.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eerie. No fear. No concern whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Yellow stars and white moon in a black sky,<\/p>\n

Glow of orange from stacks and towers of the phosphate plant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zophar is named for one of Job\u2019s three friends<\/p>\n

Job who came from some unknown place.<\/p>\n

Beside Zophar is the military post named Bildad.<\/p>\n

Twenty kilometers to the south another military outpost<\/p>\n

Eliphaz, where Daveed Flexer, in 1984, at age 18<\/p>\n

Serves in the military in a similar border stronghold.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

North shore of the Dead Sea<\/p>\n

South of Jericho, the caves of Qumran.<\/p>\n

At the lowest elevation on earth,<\/p>\n

In a lifeless, silent, and desolate place,<\/p>\n

Ancient Jewish religious community \u2013 the Essenes<\/p>\n

Climb the ragged cliffs; cache scrolls of biblical scripture.<\/p>\n

Undisturbed for 2,000 years.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 1947, last days of the British mandate in Palestine,<\/p>\n

Young Bedu shepherd Muhammad edh-Dhib finds<\/p>\n

The Dead Sea Scrolls (probably looking for a lost sheep).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Archaeologists and biblical scholars retrieve hundreds of leather fragments,<\/p>\n

Including an incomplete Isaiah manuscript, a scroll of Hymns, and<\/p>\n

The story of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abraham cast out the slave Hagar and her son Ishmael,<\/p>\n

And Hagar went into the wilderness of Be\u2019er-Sheva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Soon without water they were close to death<\/p>\n

And Hagar wept. God\u2019s angel: Arise, lift up the lad<\/p>\n

For I will make him a great nation.<\/p>\n

And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.<\/p>\n

And Ishmael grew, and lived in the wilderness.<\/p>\n

He had twelve sons, ancestors of twelve tribes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bedu society is a swarm of independent families<\/p>\n

Surviving in the desert on meager subsistence.<\/p>\n

Each family part of a clan (for security);<\/p>\n

The clan (khamsa<\/em>) part of a sub-tribe (ruba<\/em>);<\/p>\n

Part of a tribe (ashira<\/em>), part of a sub-confederation (fakhdh<\/em>);<\/p>\n

Part of a confederation (gabila<\/em>), a bedu nation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Head of the clan is an elder (kabir<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Head of the tribe is a chief (shaikh<\/em>).<\/p>\n

People without a state and without a central government.<\/p>\n

Agreements made by consensus;<\/p>\n

(It is better to destroy a people\u2019s interests <\/em><\/p>\n

with their consent than to enhance them on one own\u2019s initiative<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Winnipeg. 1964. Flexers watch Lawrence of Arabia<\/em> (at the North Main Drive-in).<\/p>\n

Hawitat shaikh shoots and kills Lawrence\u2019s bedu guide,<\/p>\n

Not allowed by law to drink from Hawitat wells.<\/p>\n

Later Lawrence to Sherif Ali: So long as the Arabs<\/p>\n

Fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people,<\/p>\n

A silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Murder is like a witch\u2019s cave<\/em>. Easy to enter but impossible to leave.<\/p>\n

Sleep with regret, but not with murder<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Even he with the long sword must submit to the law<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Murder marks a weak clan; damages reputation for strength;<\/p>\n

Blood-revenge restores strength. Revenge dispels shame<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Often, to avoid retaliation, clansmen of the murderer<\/p>\n

Pick up and flee, abandon all possessions, become exiles.<\/p>\n

But exile is constant humiliation with<\/p>\n

Dependence on the tribe that offers refuge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Murder compels migration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rage rises in Joesph Flexer, fulminating.<\/p>\n

Loses faith in the Israeli-Zionist cause.<\/p>\n

Festers in his own complicity<\/p>\n

Obliterates his ability to love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Cheryl Strayed is a college senior,<\/p>\n

Her mother dies of lung cancer.<\/p>\n

Family scatters; her marriage ends.<\/p>\n

She calls this loss her genesis story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Four years later, at 26, driven by blind will,<\/p>\n

She hikes the 1100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.<\/p>\n

Three months, Mojave Desert through California<\/p>\n

To Oregon and Washington. Alone.<\/p>\n

A journey of strength and healing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robyn Davidson\u2019s mother commits suicide<\/p>\n

When Davidson is 11.<\/p>\n

In 1977, at 27, leaves Alice Springs<\/p>\n

For the west coast of Australia, 1700 miles away.<\/p>\n

With her dog Diggity and four camels.<\/p>\n

Across desolate outback, riding camel Bub.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A lunatic gesture of independence<\/p>\n

Survival in a landscape of sandstorms, prickly rain, unbearable heat,<\/p>\n

Poisonous snakes, charging bull camels (and a mass of tourists).<\/p>\n

Six months later soaks in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

Transformed by the journey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Isaac in high school in Arad<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (20 kilometers from Massada, 24 from the Dead Sea),<\/p>\n

    Shuns History and the Hebrew bible.<\/p>\n

    Unprepared for bible mid-term exam,<\/p>\n

    Writes 5-page essay in exam booklet arguing against teaching scripture<\/p>\n

    As compulsory subject in a secular democracy.<\/p>\n

    Days later stops going to classes. Drops out.<\/p>\n

    Gets a job as a welder\u2019s assistant.<\/p>\n

    Soon IDF call-up notice comes in the mail.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Isaac Flexer\u2019s lineage: maternal side Russian Jewish colonizers of Palestine;<\/p>\n

    1923: buy cheap land; toil the barely-arable soil.<\/p>\n

    Paternal side Jewish socialist pioneer in Palestine<\/p>\n

    Ensured Palestinians would never return.<\/p>\n

    Later Joesph\/Joe Flexer seeks redemption by taking up Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Poetry: the gem of Arab culture,<\/p>\n

    But Bedu masters of oral verse.<\/p>\n

    Recited from memory.<\/p>\n

    Metaphor a way of life.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Rarely do Bedu answer a question directly;<\/p>\n

    Direct answer suggests shallowness.<\/p>\n

    Answers rather, given in verse, story, or parable.<\/p>\n

    To understand, you must decipher.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Bedu children grow up with metaphor, proverbs, and poetry.<\/p>\n

    Unchecked emotions weaken group\u2019s solidarity,<\/p>\n

    So poetry expresses sadness, love, anger;<\/p>\n

    Conveys\u00a0feelings difficult to express.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    A fog of despair shrouds<\/p>\n

    The eye, just when it starts to clear<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    When cousin kills cousin in a squabble,<\/p>\n

    This poem expresses sadness, triggered<\/p>\n

    By the painful memory of the murdered young man.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Adam and Eve’s three children: Cain, Abel, and Seth.<\/p>\n

    Cain and Seth become grandfathers of every human.<\/p>\n

    Cain, banished to a life of wandering and homelessness,<\/p>\n

    The essence of volatility and rootlessness.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Seth founder of the stable world<\/p>\n

    (Seth<\/em> in Hebrew means “to set” or “to establish”).<\/p>\n

    Cain the disruptor of life. Seth the patriarch.<\/p>\n

    Cain the nomad, Seth the settler.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A small unrecognized Bedu village in the Negev<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Two hundred of the Azazmeh tribe live here<\/p>\n

      (Should have relocated to the state-planned town of Segev Shalom.)<\/p>\n

      Suleiman El-Hrenik runs a tourist business;<\/p>\n

      Hosts 50 tourists a year, mainly Jewish Israelis.<\/p>\n

      In a tent large enough for 100 visitors.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Suleiman, in his 70s, flowing grey-white beard,<\/p>\n

      Long white cloth covers head and shoulders.<\/p>\n

      Forehead wrinkled by decades of wind and sun.<\/p>\n

      Wears a T-shirt and cargo pants<\/p>\n

      Sits comfortably on the floor, legs crossed.<\/p>\n

      Pours tea. Describes his situation.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      We are the original Bedu.<\/p>\n

      We have sheep, goats, camels, everything here.<\/p>\n

      We make pita on the saj<\/em>. We have tea, coffee, lebaneh<\/em>, humus,<\/p>\n

      And bread we cook on the fire.<\/p>\n

      We slaughter sheep for our guests right here.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      We take the people to see the local area.<\/p>\n

      They can sleep here in the guest side of the tent.<\/p>\n

      We have a kitchen, and I have set up bathrooms for them.<\/p>\n

      They can come here and see how everything is open.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      This is how we live, not in a stone house in town.<\/p>\n

      That’s no way to live, we can’t live like that.<\/p>\n

      I can’t live in a stone house, a house that’s closed in!<\/p>\n

      That’s not the life of the Bedu!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      We do everything in this country,<\/p>\n

      We are guards, we serve in the Army.<\/p>\n

      We just want to be left alone.<\/p>\n

      But they want to destroy our houses.<\/p>\n

      There is a demolition order on my son’s house right now!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Where will we go, what will we do?<\/p>\n

      I am a Bedu! I have chickens, camels, goats, sheep! I cannot live in a city!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      I was in the Yom Kippur War, in the tank corps.<\/p>\n

      There were seven Azazmeh in the unit.<\/p>\n

      Look at this situation! Everything here is in turmoil.<\/p>\n

      This country treats me like this.<\/p>\n

      It makes trouble for me and my family all the time,<\/p>\n

      Wanting to destroy our homes, to destroy our lives.<\/p>\n

      This country is shit.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Awlad ‘Ali Bedu tribe think it shameful<\/p>\n

      To complain publicly about one’s personal life,<\/p>\n

      Relations between spouses or family members;<\/p>\n

      Emotions such as pain, grief, vulnerability, and love.<\/p>\n

      Poetry speaks veiled social messages.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      This poetry is called the ghinnawa<\/em> (little song).<\/p>\n

      Can be recited in a regular speaking voice:<\/p>\n

      Tears increased,<\/p>\n

      The beloved came to mind in the time of sadness.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Or chanted to a repetitive, mournful melody;<\/p>\n

      Gradually pealing layer after layer of emotion:<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time of sadness<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      The beloved in the time of sadness<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      The beloved in the time of sadness<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time my tears<\/p>\n

      My tears increased oh Lord<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      In the time<\/p>\n

      The beloved came to mind<\/p>\n

      The beloved came to mind in the time of sadness<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      The Awlad ‘Ali say beautiful poetry makes you cry.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Proverbs from the common people are like salt for the food<\/em>.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      One’s maternal uncle is like a loop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Bedu Boy\u2019s qualities come from his maternal relatives,<\/p>\n

      His personality depends on theirs.<\/p>\n

      The loop is the loop of a saddle bag or sack<\/p>\n

      By which it hangs, as a boy\u2019s personality is hung on<\/p>\n

      Or tied to his mother’s men folk.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Anez abu Salim al-Urdi, born in 1920,<\/p>\n

      (The finest living poet in Sinai).<\/p>\n

      While in prison (led smuggling ring; spent 15 years in prison),<\/p>\n

      Two of his wives ran off with men of his own tribe.<\/p>\n

      He composed this poem in prison,<\/p>\n

      At the time of the Feast of the Sacrifice:<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Last night I slept unsound<\/p>\n

      Yet how few to whom I’d complain of my pain.<\/p>\n

      O how pleasing’s the cup one sips under palms<\/p>\n

      And the gun’s sound where the wadi bends.<\/p>\n

      And lamb’s meat we’ve heaped on embers of broom<\/p>\n

      With friends in the shade of a booth, reclining<\/p>\n

      Near darkened-eyed lasses with fine even teeth,<\/p>\n

      Their tattoos as green as the pasture of spring.<\/p>\n

      But today I’m trapped in the tangles of fate,<\/p>\n

      Imbibing, by draughts, purest poison.<\/p>\n

      Others are covered but we are exposed,<\/p>\n

      As jerboa-mice frolic within my abodes.<\/p>\n

      Though I’ve whitened the withers of mares, I’m despised;<\/p>\n

      Even those who wear the black shawl shun me.<\/p>\n

      My clan’s like hyenas at small stinking pools,<\/p>\n

      Crouched to the ground like hyenas drinking.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      During the first world war, the Hashemite Sharif of Mecca,<\/p>\n

      (With T. E. Lawrence), organized a revolt against<\/p>\n

      The Turks in western Arabia; many Bedu joined,<\/p>\n

      Leaving womenfolk despondent:<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      I’m sad out herding goats today,<\/p>\n

      Crying for those who’re far away,<\/p>\n

      Who’ve pitched their tents where death goes by;<\/p>\n

      What luck if we see them again someday.<\/p>\n

      And woe to the walker or he who rides slow<\/p>\n

      When chargers veer, their sticks asway.<\/p>\n

      Looking out as far as anyone can,<\/p>\n

      I see only tattered dresses swaying.<\/p>\n

      All that remain are virgins and flocks,<\/p>\n

      And asses, in the wormwood, braying.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      A Bedu child hears proverbs on every aspect of life, many in rhyme:<\/p>\n

      A child is a child, though he rule a town<\/em>;<\/p>\n

      You must live with a neighbor, though he oppress you<\/em>;<\/p>\n

      What’s done is done<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      A trial is called an assembly and a full coffee pot;<\/p>\n

      Or a semicircle of kneeling men.<\/p>\n

      When they water their camels, they make<\/p>\n

      A simple rhyme called an \u201curging\u201d,<\/p>\n

      Sung over and over again while<\/p>\n

      Urging the camels to drink.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      The village of Al-‘Imara, (more a hamlet than a village),<\/p>\n

      Once located in the middle of a wide plain<\/p>\n

      Linked by roads to Be’er Sheva, twenty-seven kilometers to the east<\/p>\n

      And to Gaza, twenty-two kilometers to the north.<\/p>\n

      Arid. Agriculture not possible.<\/p>\n

      But villagers cultivate beds of nearby wadis.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      December 26, 1947: small-scale battle;<\/p>\n

      Jewish patrol clashes with local residents.<\/p>\n

      Fall 1948: Israeli army seizes the village;<\/p>\n

      Clearing operations: Arabs expelled;<\/p>\n

      Livestock confiscated; wells blown up.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Kibbutz Urim sprouts on Al-\u2018Imara land.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Two kilometers southeast of the kibbutz<\/p>\n

        Are ruins of several stone structures;<\/p>\n

        Houses of Bedu families from before 1948.<\/p>\n

        Today, kibbutz farmers cultivate village land.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        My own search for freedom,<\/p>\n

        For the Self obscured by Isaac\/Jerry;<\/p>\n

        Tarnished by lineage.<\/p>\n

        No need to be right in a place.<\/p>\n

        Better to wander out of place from home to home<\/p>\n

        Not at home anywhere in particular.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Shepherd, farmer, wanderer; harmonization is futile.<\/p>\n

        Currents of water and grains of sand can be out of place<\/p>\n

        But combine in unpredictable motion and synergy.<\/p>\n

        Unpredictability is freedom.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Job suffers: possessions gone, children lost, no wife.<\/p>\n

        Endures loathsome sores, bad advice, and much anguish.<\/p>\n

        Why does blameless Job suffer?<\/p>\n

        Why does God allow his suffering?<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Job grieves; not for lost possessions or children.<\/p>\n

        Job mourns for the lost belief that righteousness protects.<\/p>\n

        Pleads for the chance to reason with God.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar,<\/p>\n

        Say he\u2019s being punished for his sins.<\/p>\n

        But Job knows this is false.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Then God\u2019s voice from the whirlwind.<\/p>\n

        And Job submits.<\/p>\n

        And God restores his world: possessions doubled; a new family.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Job has come closer to God.<\/p>\n

        Before, he could hear God<\/p>\n

        But now he sees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Cain\u2019s Creation\u00a0\u00a0   Adam and Eve conceived Cain (he who is created), And later his brother Abel. And Abel became a shepherd, and Cain a farmer.   When he became a man Cain offered The first fruits of his harvest to God, And Abel brought the fattest young from his flock. And God accepted Abel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1520,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1520"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/jerryflexer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}